


I Swear On My Life

by natashasbanner



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 12:25:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8445775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natashasbanner/pseuds/natashasbanner
Summary: Bruce has been ignoring Natasha's advances for fear of hurting her until she gets injured on the job.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old prompt I filled on my tumblr, I'm just in the process of updating my fic page and decided to post it here.

“Hey Bruce,” Natasha greeted the scientist as he entered the communal living room, nose in a book, oblivious to the world around him.

Bruce looked up a bit startled when he realized he wasn’t the only one in the room. “Hi Natasha.” he said looking around for anymore of their teammates.

“I was going to head out for a walk and maybe grab something to eat. Do you want to come?” She asked, her tone hopeful.

Bruce sighed and shook his head. “I’m pretty busy here. Maybe next time?” He offered.

“Sure.” she said, her face falling.

Bruce had to look away. He knew if he even caught a glimpse of those disappointed green eyes he would cave and agree to go out with her. As quickly as he could he headed for the elevators and slammed the button for his lab.

This has been happening a lot lately. Natasha would flirt with him or be extra affectionate with him but he had no choice but to turn her down every time. Just the other night the whole team sat down for movie night and somehow he and Natasha had ended up sharing the smaller couch. The whole time he was forced to sit stock still as their thighs touched and she did everything she could to subtly cuddle up to him.

He wasn’t completely unaware of how she felt about him and couldn’t deny that he had feelings that went beyond friendship.

Nothing could happen between them. He was dangerous and would never be able to live with himself if something happened to her because he wasn’t able to keep the Other Guy under control. It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take, he cared about her too much. Bruce had decided to keep his distant when he first suspected she was actually interested in him and he was sticking to it. But dammit if it wasn’t killing him.

He locked himself in his lab and threw himself into the work he and Tony were doing to minimize the damage the Hulk did when he transformed so he wouldn’t have to think about Natasha.

* * *

 

Over the next few weeks Natasha’s advances became even more relentless. One night she openly tried seducing him in the lab while Tony was there. Bruce was finding it harder and harder to resist taking the plunge into a romantic relationship, but he reminded himself that the risks were too great.

Thankfully her advances were put on hold for a while when the team was sent out to take down HYDRA cells. They’d taken down three so far and this was the last one that they knew of. It wasn’t much, but all six of them went out just in case.

Clint landed the Quinjet and ran out with Steve and Natasha, Thor right behind him. Tony paused before taking off and looked at Bruce.

“We’re probably not gonna need the Big Guy, just sit tight.”

Bruce nodded and pulled up a hologram of the battle field where the dots representing Natasha, Steve, Thor, and Clint were already taking on HYDRA operatives. Tony flew out and Bruce watched the battle unfold, ready to release the Other Guy at a moment’s notice.

It turned out there were more operatives than they anticipated and they were taking quite the beating. Bruce watched, the Other Guy getting closer and closer to the surface, and hi the intercom button.

“Tony you guys okay out there?”

“Yeah, we’ve got it under control buddy.”

Suddenly there was a loud bang and the ground shook.

“What the hell was that?” Bruce heard Tony yell through the intercom. His sentence followed by another bang.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asked, the holographic map glitching, making the origin of the explosions unclear.

“Their blowing the place up.” Clint informed them. “Nat get out of there!”

“You think,” Natasha snarked, her breath coming in pants and the wind whipping through the comm system told them she was high tailing it out of there. “I’m ou…” she started but another ground shaking explosion cut her off. The five men held their breath as the eerie sound of static drifted over the intercom.

Bruce felt his stomach drop as they waited for Natasha to say she was alright followed by her signature sarcasm, but there was nothing but static. It took all of his control to keep the Hulk at bay while he desperately searched the map for any sign of the red dot that would tell him Natasha was okay.

“Natasha?” Steve was the first to say anything. “Natasha do you copy?”

Static.

“Nat!” Clint yelled this time, his panic clear.

Bruce’s hands shook and his heart raced as he fought to remain in control of his mind. The Hulk sensed his fear and fought just as hard to protect him. It took all of his ability to remain on his feet as his vision blurred in and out of focus, but he saw it. The lightly blinking blip that signified Natasha hadn’t been caught in the explosion. She was about a hundred feet from the demolished building and she wasn’t moving.

Without another thought Bruce sprinted out of the Quinjet, tearing through anything that got in his way. He skidded to a stop when he spotted her in an isolated pile of rubble.

“I found her.” He told the others who were busy finishing off the rest of the HYDRA agents. He ran over and pushed a piece of cement off of her.

“We’ll be right there.” was Tony’s reply.

“Bruce?” She asked her voice barely a whisper, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth.

“I’m right here,” he told her as he surveyed her injuries. There was a large open wound in her abdomen, her arm was definitely broken as well as several ribs, and she was covered in cuts and bruises.

“I’m hurt bad,” she said, clearly getting delirious from loss of blood, and started coughing up blood.

“Yes you are.”

He shed his jacket and pressed it to the wound to her abdomen. Natasha winced and her eyes started to droop closed. He gently tapped her cheek to keep her awake.

“You have to stay awake for me okay?” He said his voice hitching as he struggled to hold back his tears.

“But I’m sleepy.”

“I know, but I need you to stay awake.”

“Why don’t you like me?” she asked, her words slurring together as her glassy eyes focused on him.

“I like you more than you know.” he admitted, checking her pulse and barely picking it up.

“Then why don’t you flirt with me. I flirt with you all the time.”

“I thought I was protecting you,”

“I can protect myself,” she said hitting his thigh with her good arm.

“I see that now,” Bruce said shaking as her blood started seeping through his jacket onto his hands. A single tear fell onto his hands.

“Am I gonna die?” She whispered, her eyes now brimming with tears.

“Not if I have any say in it.” His tears mixed with the blood on his hands and her pressed his jacket harder to her wound.

“Kiss me,” she whispered, reaching a hand up to wipe a tear from his cheek.

“No.”

“But I love you.”

“I love you too, but I’m not going to kiss you until you’re back on your feet.”

“Promise?”

“I swear on my life.” He said, just as she started losing consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

_ “I swear on my life.” _

Bruce felt the tears pouring down his face as her eyes closed and he shook her limp form.

“Natasha? Natasha! Wake up! Wake up dammit!” He yelled willing her to open those eyes he’d fallen in love with.

Tony landed a few feet away and slowly approached the pair. JARVIS read off her stats in his ear. She was alive, but just barely. If she was going to have any chance of surviving they needed to get her out of there fast. He kneeled down beside Bruce and reached out a hand to move her.

Bruce batted his hand away with surprising strength and snapped at him. “Don’t touch her.”

Tony watched his best friend pull her closer to his body and lean over her protectively. He backed off a little and tried to reason with the obviously hurting man.

“She still alive, Bruce. We have to get her help.”

Bruce didn’t say anything. He continued to hold pressure on her wound and began chanting, “please wake up” over and over again.

“Bruce,” Tony tried, placing a hand on his shoulder, hoping the contact would pull Bruce back to reality, but it had the opposite effect. Bruce fliched away from the metal covered hand and whipped his head around to glare at Tony with a growl.

Tony saw the green around the edges of his irises and knew his friend wasn’t all there. He looked behind him and subtly nodded to the other three men who had kept their distance up until that point. Steve walked up to Bruce and knelt beside him.

“Come on, Dr. Banner,” he said pulling the man to his feet with little difficulty, despite the fight Bruce put up. Clint swooped in to take his spot. With Tony’s help lifted Natasha from the ground and headed for the jet. Thor and Steve guided Bruce behind them.

The second they stepped into the jet Bruce was at Natasha’s side. Clint took off and flew them to the nearest hospital. Bruce held her hand the whole way, muttering quietly to her. Everyone else dutifully gave him his privacy.

When they got to the hospital the doctors rushed Natasha to surgery and Steve and Thor had to physically hold Bruce back from following her.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, buddy.” Tony said attempting to lead Bruce to the bathroom, but Bruce shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re covered in blood.” Steve pointed out gently.

Bruce looked down at his hands and instantly paled at the sight of Natasha’s blood coating his hands and the front of his shirt. Tony took the chance and guided Bruce to the bathroom. Bruce broke down again as he washed the blood from his hands.

“What if she doesn’t make it?” He asked Tony desperately.

“Natasha’s a fighter, she’s not going down that easily.” Tony promised.

* * *

 

Natasha was in surgery for over eight hours and Bruce paced the waiting room the entire time. The others tried to get him to rest but he refused. He thought about all the time he’d wasted worrying about not being good enough for her and now he might have missed his chance.

The surgeon came into the waiting room and all five men descended upon him.

“How is she?” Clint asked, his stoic mask slipping for a moment.

“We repaired all of her injuries, her arm was broken as well as several ribs. Her injuries were severe but we expect her to make a full recovery.”

There was a collective sigh of relief. She was going to be okay.

“Is she awake?” Steve questioned.

“Not yet, we’re monitoring her in the ICU.”

“When can we see her?” Tony asked, noticing the way Bruce was anxiously wringing his hands.

“You’re more than welcome to visit one at a time.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Steve said and the surgeon walked off.

Each of them went and visited their unconscious teammate to see with their own eyes that she was okay. It was silently agreed upon that Bruce would be last to give him as much time as he needed with Natasha.

When it was finally Bruce’s turn he followed the nurse back to her pod in the ICU, his stomach in knots. He lingered near the door for awhile taking in the sight of Natasha in the hospital bed, her arm in a cast and several bandages covering her less severe injuries. The steady beeps of her heart moniter told him she was alive and he finally crossed the room to her bed. He sat in the chair next to her bed and reached over to grasp her hand. He was silent for several minutes while the day’s events replayed in his head.

“I thought I lost you,” he finally said. “I thought you were gone. I’m so sorry Natasha. I spent all that time denying how I felt about you for fear of hurting you without realizing that I already was. I still think you do deserve someone who isn’t dangerous like me but I’m willing to try. For you.” He finished and leaned down to kiss the back of her hand.

“Took you long enough.” Came her raspy voice.

Bruce’s head shot up to see tired green eyes staring back at him.

“You heard that?”

“I’ve been awake since Stark was in here,” she admitted with a wince.

“What hurts?” Bruce asked noticing her discomfort.

“Everything.”

“Do you need me to call the nurse?” He asked already standing from his chair.

“No,” she said squeezing his hand to hold him in place. “I need that kiss you promised me.”

Bruce didn’t think she would remember their conversation but found he couldn’t deny her. Without hesitation he bent forward again and kissed her chastely on the lips. 


End file.
